August 2 was Day of Habu

August 2 was the day dedicated to Okinawa’s infamous habu snake. That is because number eight (August) reads hachi (ha) and two can be read hu (bu) in Japanese, so thus “ha-bu.”

To mark the day, Okinawa World theme park in Nanjo held a memorial service for the venomous snakes at its Habu Museum on Aug. 2. Okinawa World features a permanent habu exhibition in the museum, and produces 6,000 bottles of their famous habu sake every year. The park has held the habu memorial ceremony to express its appreciation to the venomous viper every year since 2006.